Wiping out communalism from schools is a job the interim government can and should do. The 1969 Education Commission recommended this but the elected governments hesitated to do this for fear of antagonising the communal organisations involved and thereby losing their electoral support. So after 40 years there are few government schools and communalism persists as the voluntary agencies run most of the schools. This stands in the way of integration.
The 1969 commission recommended government takeover of these communal schools and at independence the government had a plan to take them over. But free education was made an election issue by the National Federation Party in 1972 and after that the government decided to gradually abolish fees and takeover of communal schools was forgotten. Nobody questioned the government on this important policy change.
Some of the voluntary organisations would not agree to give up control of their schools to the Ministry of Education even if the government threatened to stop grants. One good example is the Roman Catholic Mission, which has been refusing to have non-Catholic teachers in positions of responsibility. Another example I can think of is the Satya Sai Organisation, which has recently started a school in Lovu near Lautoka. It imparts value-based education and also teach Fijian and Hindi to all children. I am sure they would not want to give up their control at any cost.
On the other hand the Methodist Church had offered to hand over all its village schools to the government in the 1930s. It was the then director of education, James Russell, who refused to take over these schools, resulting in their being handed over to local committees when the mission relinquished control. This led to a deterioration in standards, which contributed to the Fijian education problem of later years. The village schools no longer provided a sound base for the children’s education as they used to do under the mission.
The 1969 commission saw education as the foundation for building an integrated Fiji. It made recommendations with this in mind. The foremost recommendation was wiping out communalism from schools via the gradual abolition of the voluntary system by having more government schools. The government decided to take over communal schools if the committee that ran the school was agreeable to the takeover. It also decided to amalgamate schools wherever there was duplication.
Although there was no objection raised when the government made these announcements, there was no support for such policies, especially from the voluntary agencies which ran the schools. No one came forward to request government takeover unlike in the 1930s, for instance, when the Indian leaders were constantly demanding government takeover. So the voluntary system continued, with communalism getting more and more entrenched.
Perhaps now is the time to have more government involvement in schools and abolish the voluntary system and put an end to communalism in schools. Although there will be initial resistance, once it is done there will be support for such a policy as it will reduce the cost of education to the parents. From 1973 there has been fee free education in primary schools but the cost of education has steadily gone up. The committees that ran schools found various other ways of extracting money from the parents – for example, building fees, library fees, sports fees etc.
More government involvement would also make it easier to introduce policies like teaching Fijian to all the children. It would be easier to introduce other multicultural activities like Fijian legends and stories from Indian epics. Schools should also teach the history of Fiji as a compulsory subject for all children. These would help them develop a strong sense of identity with the nation and a deeprooted loyalty.
More government involvement will also mean no wastage of money, time and effort in fundraising activities as it is a feature of almost all non-government schools today. As the schools are classified according to the number of students and the salary of the principal/head teacher is based on this criterion committee schools after independence concentrated on increasing the rolls without worrying about the standards. Wiping out the voluntary system would mean an end to such adverse policies. It would reduce wastage and although there will be initial opposition to some of these policies, once the benefits become evident there will be support from the parents.
These are all things that can be done by the interim government while an elected government would be more hesitant to embark on such reforms. This is extremely important for building an integrated nation where children primarily identify with the country rather than their ethnic group, religion or community. Education is most important for building a united Fiji.
In 1999, I published a book, ‘Education and Race Relations in Fiji, 1835-1998’. In it I said: “Fiji, as we know it, is being given a second lease of life. There is a new Constitution in place which promotes multi-culturalism. But we now know from experience that a Constitution is only a piece of paper that can be abrogated or put aside by a military strongman or even a civilian dictator. The only thing that can prevent such a situation from arising is the collective desire of the people to have a peaceful democratic country. Children of Fiji should be educated towards it. The only education that can promote this goal is multi-racial, multi-cultural education” (p.165).
A few months after the book was published, in May 2000, the People’s Coalition government was overthrown in a civilian coup, proving my prediction right.
Education still remains the key to Fiji’s ethnic and political problems. To have a stable democracy in the country education policies should be given high priority.